The state of Do Not Track in web browsers

Have you turned on Do Not Track in your browser of choice? Probably not. Despite the fact that nearly every popular browser on the planet supports sending DNT headers, very few users have bothered to enable the privacy-focused feature. Part of the problem is that it’s not well advertised in any browser. If users don’t know DNT exists — or what it does — they’re certainly not going to seek out the switch. As of December 2012, roughly 90% of Firefox users hadn’t toggled the setting.

In Google Chrome, the DNT setting is buried and you aren’t given any clue as to its existence when you install the browser. To turn it on, you need to head to chrome://settings and then click the show advanced settings link. You wouldn’t want DNT on the top level, after all, where users would see it right away, would you?

And what about the way Google describes the setting? “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic,” doesn’t give the average user any idea what effect checking the box will have, and there’s no link provided to any online documentation that would tell them. A checkbox and a vague description is all users of the world’s most popular web browser have to go by.

How about Internet Explorer? You may already know that Do Not Track is enabled by default in IE10 — the decision by Microsoft to turn it on via IE’s Express Settings wizard has drawn the ire of other supporters of DNT. So how do you enable or disable it after the fact? Under IE10’s internet options screen on the advanced tab, of course, where it’s buried half way down the list under the security heading. Again, there’s no description and the language isn’t going to make sense to most users: “Always send a Do Not Track header.” And strangely, Microsoft puts an asterisk next to the setting — signifying that changes to the DNT preference don’t take place until you reboot your computer.

Really? A system restart is necessary to turn Do Not Track headers on or off? Also disappointing is the fact that Microsoft, too, has neglected to link to any sort of a help file that would tell users what impact DNT actually has.

Surely Firefox promotes DNT, so that its privacy-minded legions know where to find the box should they want to check it? Not so much. But at least the setting is in an obvious spot, under options on the privacy tab. It’s even right at the top of the screen, and there’s a helpful link underneath the three options provided. Mozilla offers a “don’t send any DNT preference” option, too, so you’re not even restricted to opting in or out. The online help is incredibly detailed and provides loads of information about what Do Not Track is and how it works, as well as step-by-step instructions on how to change the setting in Firefox.

Opera is more on par with Chrome. Once again, you’re not informed the Do Not Track toggle exists and it’s buried in the advanced section of the browser’s settings. Once you make it there, clicking into security reveals the checkbox. On a positive note, Opera’s language is more likely to be understood by users: “ask websites not to track me.” On a not-so-positive note, there’s no link to any sort of detailed description that might help users learn what DNT is all about.

The way Do Not Track is currently implemented in top browsers is enough to make anyone think that it’s not a very important piece of functionality. It’s even beginning to look like Mozilla itself doesn’t see much of a future for it. The Foundation recently decided to block third-party cookies on websites, a move that is much more likely to have a real impact for Firefox users in the immediate future. Indeed, DNT feels like a mere afterthought lumped in among other settings like whether or not to send crash reports enabling animated images. That’s confusing, given all the heat Microsoft has taken over its decision to roll DNT by default. If others are so concerned, you would think that Do Not Track is something that would be deserving of more exposure.

Is that concern even warranted? Research from a team at Stanford suggests that less than 4% of all online ads in 2009 would have been affected by a user’s Do Not Track setting. That number has grown, but it’s only expected to hit 7% of total online ads by 2014. Other forms of advertising remain much more widely used — contextual ads and demographic targeting, for example. Even if that percentage does rise above 7%, the chance that a large number of web users would ever enable Do Not Track remains slim. On top of that, privacy-minded power users are almost certainly taken matters into their own hands and using add-ons, extensions, and opt-outs that have far more impact than DNT was ever intended to have. Many are blocking ads completely, which again renders Do Not Track useless.

The reality is that the real world impact of Do Not Track is never likely to be that great. Why, then, not decide that the time has come for DNT to do what it was designed to do for those who want to use it — or acknowledge that it was a good idea and nothing more, and that it’s time to pull the pin?